Carbonate oil and gas source rocks wettability alteration due to influence of polymer-colloidal drilling mud

Abstract

Evaluation of rock wettability is an important task, since this parameter determines the distribution of water and oil in the reservoirs and their relative and phase permeability. The reliability of evaluation the wettability of rock samples depends on the drilling-in conditions during core sampling and core sample preparation methods. The investigation of the surface properties of the core from the Orenburg oil and gas condensate field showed that using of polymer-colloidal drilling mud leads to hydrophilization of the samples' surface. To obtain information on the actual wettability values of rock samples taken from wells drilled with polymer-colloidal drilling mud a method for estimating the relative (predominant) wettability of rocks based on petrophysical and lithological studies data is proposed. The authors suggest that the extraction of oil and gas source rock samples leads to irreversible changes in surface properties that cannot be restored. Keywords: selective wettability; relative wettability; predominant wettability; polymer-colloidal drilling mud; residual gas saturation; trapped gas saturation; pore space structure; extraction.